Love and the Future
by Tkdoegirl
Summary: Five years after Danny and Slen started dating, there are some changes going on in the household. Slen can't believe how domestic his life's become, and yet he's never been happier. (Prize for 100th review of "What is Love?")


**A/N: Here it finally is! Sorry for the long delay on this everyone, but here is the one-shot prize for the 100th review of "What is Love?" dedicated to** ** _Karkatsbabe_** **! Hope you all enjoy :)**

* * *

The Slender man

Danny was sprawled across my chest, her lips parted slightly as she breathed softly in her sleep. Her red hair was tousled and slightly in my face, but it didn't bother me. I'd had five years since we started dating to get used to her wild mane somehow always managing to fill my nose and mouth whenever we lay in bed together. It really was a wonder I hadn't suffocated yet.

The moonlight coming from the bedroom window cast a blue glow over the body of my lover, and I slightly tightened my hold around her waist, pulling her into me a little more. The little human mumbled something in her sleep, but didn't stir beyond nuzzling her face into my bare chest . She really was too cute for her own good sometimes.

My eyes were tired, but while Danny had managed to drift right off, sleep was evading me tonight. There was an idea – a ridiculous idea – but an idea nonetheless, that had been floating around my mind for a while now, and despite all my better judgment, I was finally giving in to it.

I, the Slender man, was going to ask a human to marry me.

* * *

Danny Dare

I stared at Slender, feeling like I must have misunderstood. I was frozen, staring into his dark eyes and seeing an emotion there I wasn't used to seeing from him. If I wasn't so shocked, I might have laughed.

Slen was nervous.

Even with him on bended knee, he was still tall enough to almost be on eye level with me, and the enormous diamond secured in the ring he held up to me glittered magnificently under the Florida sun. A part of me in the far back corners of my mind was slightly amused by the fact that he was going through the whole human tradition of a proposal. If it wasn't for the fact he took me on outlandishly lavish outings quite regularly, I might have been more suspicious of the beautiful yacht we were on and all the blood red roses scattered around the deck. But in all honestly, I truly was surprised.

And of course I was ecstatic.

I flung myself into Slen's arms kissing him as I did so. "Of course I'll marry you," I gasped, half laughing and half crying.

Slender looked calm as ever, but his eyes were dancing, and a smile played on his lips as he watched my reaction. "Then I believe you'll be wanting to put this on, Miss Dare," he chuckled, and slipped the ring over my left hand finger.

The ring was _way_ too expensive for me, but so was everything else Slen ever bought me, so I held my tongue and admired its beauty for a moment. Someday I would eventually get him to tell me where all his money came from, but right now I didn't care. Everything in this moment was perfect.

"So what will my last name be?" I asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Slen replied, looking a little bemused.

"Well obviously 'Ritter' isn't your real last name," I teased.

"Obviously," he replied, rolling his eyes. "However, I don't think 'The Slender man' really comes with a surname, unless you just want to go with 'man.'" I shoved him in the shoulder and he chuckled. "How about I just call you mine, and who cares what the rest of the world calls you?" he whispered softly, bringing his face close to mine.

A shiver ran up my spine as I recognized the heat in his gaze. "That works I suppose," I mumbled already starting to feel dazed. I suppose it's a good thing that after five years my boyfriend – no, my _fiancé_ – could still have that effect on me.

"Then hush now Danny, and leave all the little details till later," he purred, and moments later I did indeed forget that the world even existed beyond just me and him.

* * *

All those 'little details' were now haunting me now, it seemed. Planning a wedding had to be one of the most stressful things I'd ever done, and that was _with_ the help of the Trender man. Slen and I had been engaged for a couple months now, and as every day got closer and closer to _the_ big day, I was growing more and more nervous about getting it all done in time. Slender and I both would have been fine with just a small wedding, but of course Trender would have none of that.

"You only get married once!" he exclaimed in outrage when I'd even started to mention that it didn't need to have a big deal made out of it. "Girl, this is your day to shine – there is no way in hell I'm going to let you throw some boring, small formality of a wedding!" He looked personally offended and I just rolled my eyes.

"It's just not my style, Trendy," I complained, getting up from the table where we sat looking over different colored napkins, and heading to the fridge. I had a real craving for some pickles.

"It's _everyone's_ style!" Trender burst out, throwing his hands up in the air.

I sat back down, the entire pickle jar in my lap, and made a face at my fiancé's oldest brother. "Trender, I trust your judgment with all of this, but you gotta realize that I'm just not good at this type of stuff."

Trender sighed. "Fine, we'll take a break from picking the place settings." He perked back up an instant later though. "But that's okay, because we're going dress shopping today!"

Slender walked in at the point, and raised an eyebrow at me sitting cross-legged in our dinning chair with a pickle jar in my lap, but didn't comment. "Brother, she'll look amazing in anything. Don't over stress my fiancé too much now," he said nonchalantly.

A shrill giggle alerted me to the fact that Slender hadn't been alone when he entered the room. The Splendor man was snickering gleefully, looking back and forth between us two. "Oh Slendy, it makes me so happy to hear you call someone you're fiancé!" Slen simply ignored him; Splendor had been saying that every time Slender did so for weeks.

Smexy and Ender had also entered the room, and while Ender walked over to gaze quietly out the window, Smexy produce a bottle of wine from somewhere and poured several glasses. "Here you go, Carrot Cake," he said, handing me the first glass. "You look like you could use it."

I stuck my tongue out at him as I often did when he thought of a new pet name for me, but accepted the glass. When all the Slenders where together, Hell always followed soon after, and even if I didn't need the alcohol now, I soon would. I took a sip, and almost instantly spat it back out. The flavor of it was revolting, and my stomach churned as I forced myself to swallow it.

"Smexy, what the hell is this? It's awful!" I grimaced, pushing the glass away.

The Sexual Offender man looked almost insulted. "This is a Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Au Paradis, Danny. Usually I leave the snobbish stuff up to Gaylord over there, but this is some quality shit."

"Hey!" Trender protested, puffing up his chest. "Better a snob than an uncivilized miscreant like yourself!"

"Oh shut up both of you," Slen growled, running his hand over his face.

"Danny, are you well? You look a little green," Splendy piped in, looking at me concerned.

I shook my head and set my jar aside, getting up from the table. "I don't know. I'm serious Smexy, I think that wine has something wrong with it. I'll be back in a moment," I muttered and all but darted into the bathroom.

As I was shutting the door behind me, I heard Endy in the other room muse, "Between the eating straight form a pickle jar and the sickness, better hope she's not pregnant Slender." I vaguely registered the laughter that followed his comment, and obviously it had been meant as a joke to the other men, but as I hunched over the toilet, my mind was reeling.

When _was_ the last time I'd had my period anyway?

Starting to panic slightly, I wiped my mouth and sat back on the floor, trying to count back in my mind. I'd always been fairly irregular, but if I was remembering correctly, this was unusual even for me.

Oh god.

With fumbling hands, I started rummaging through the cabinet under the bathroom sink. When Slen and I had first moved in to the house, Trender had taken it upon himself to stock the bathrooms with any feminine products I might need. At the time, Slen and I had both been quite amused to find he'd included pregnancy test sicks with the rest of the stock, however now I was feeling very thankful that he had.

A knock on the door nearly made me drop the thin package as I jumped. "Danny, are you okay?" I heard Slender ask from the other side.

"Y-yes, I'm fine!" I called back, "I'll be out in a minute, okay?" Well, five minutes really, according to the packaging.

"Are you sure?" he asked, and I could hear he was concerned.

"Yeah, don't worry," I tried to reassure him while meanwhile I was falling into full out panic on the opposite side of the door.

"It's my job to worry about you, Danny."

"Seriously Slen, I'm a big girl."

I could practically hear the eye-roll, but he did finally retreat. After I couldn't hear his footsteps on the wood floors any more, I took a deep breath and opened the package. This was going to be the longest five minutes of my life.

* * *

The Slender man

I was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, idly listening to my brothers and cousins bickering with each other, when my little Danny finally emerged from the powder room. Her face was nearly as white as mine, I and was at her side in an instant.

"Offender, I don't know what you put in that wine, but I will kill you for it," I threatened darkly, as I helped Danny to the couch.

"I didn't do a goddamn thing!" my cousin growled, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"No Slen, I don't think it's that," she said meekly, looking down at her hands. "A change in taste perception is a symptom, you know. So is the nausea."

"A symptom of what? What's wrong Danny?" I asked, growing more concerned by the second.

She sighed, and a hesitant smile touched her lips. "Guess that explains all the cravings lately too."

I froze, realizing what she was hinting at.

"Holy shit," Offender whispered.

"Danny, are you…?" Trender started to ask.

"Called it," Ender muttered from the corner.

Danny didn't look at any of them, however, as she reached up and touched my face. I remained a statue under her hand, fighting off the shock, and I could see the hesitation in her beautiful emerald eyes.

Lord, I hope the baby has her eyes.

Suddenly fantasies filled my mind of Danny holding a little black haired, green eyed child – of a pale little one running around the house and leaving messes, and drawing pictures to hang on the fridge. I briefly thought about how horribly docile my life was becoming with first marriage, and then a child – but even as that thought crossed my mind I began to thaw. When I'd regained the ability to control my limbs again, I scooped Danny up into my arms, hugging her close.

"Good thing we have that extra room, isn't it? I think it should make quite a lovely nursery," I whispered in her ear. Danny was laughing and crying at the same time, not unlike she had when I had proposed to her, and I was glad this was the reaction she was having – it meant she was happy.

I knew the room was erupting around us as my relatives no doubt were going insane, but in all honesty it seemed in that moment as if us two – us _three_ – were the only ones in the world.

It was crazy to think that I was going to be a father – the Slender man of all people seemed like the last person that should be trusted with a child – but I'd learned more about myself in these five years with Danny than I had learned in my three hundred years before her. I may not be human, but I no longer saw myself as only a monster. Perhaps, with some time to get used to it, I could be a good patriarch.

"So you're really okay with this?" Danny asked, raising her head from my shoulder. Those jeweled eyes I loved so much were shinning with excitement and lingering tears, and I couldn't help but lean down and kiss the dampness from her lashes.

"Yes, Danny. More than okay, in fact," I assured her.

The chaos that was my family's reaction broke through our singular focus on each other at that point, and inwardly I sighed. I almost felt bad for bringing a babe into the headache that was the Slender family. Surely no child – not even the half human child of the Slender man – deserved _that_.

Glancing down and Danny's still flat stomach, I shook my head and muttered under my breath, "Good luck, little one."


End file.
